Two nanosized cage-like Ln 20 Ni 21 clusters exhibiting antiferromagnetic properties

Abstract Two novel nanosized polynuclear cage-like clusters, formulated as [Nd 20 Ni 21 (IDA) 21 (NH 2 CH 2 COO) 6 (OAc) 3 (CO 3 ) 6 (C 2 O 4 ) 3 (μ 3 -O) 9 (μ 3 -OH) 12 (μ 2 -OH) 3 ·12H 2 O]·32H 2 O (1), and [Na 3 Pr 20 Ni 21 (IDA) 21 (NH 2 CH 2 COO) 6 (OAc) 9 (CO 3 ) 6 (C 2 O 4 ) 3 (μ 3 -O) 6 (μ 3 -OH) 15 (μ 2 -OH) 3 ·12H 2 O]·15H 2 O (2) (IDA = iminodiacetic acid), were successfully synthesized under solvothermal conditions by using the flexible ligand IDA. Compounds 1 and 2 are analogous and contain [Ln 20 Ni 21 ] units connected by IDA, CO 3 2− , NH 2 CH 2 COO − and C 2 O 4 2− . In addition, magnetic properties of compounds 1 and 2 reveal the existence of antiferromagnetic exchange interaction between adjacent metal ions.